We drove from Sonora to the Bay Area, it took a couple of hours but not too long. We just aimed for the fog, ha ha. Both sides of the family reside there and we had timed our trip to coincide with my aunt and cousin coming down from Alaska to surprise my grandfather (dad's dad)- he turned 80! My grandmother knew that my aunt was coming (so she could help make sure my grandfather got to my other aunt's house) but not the rest of us were coming as well. My aunt and cousin showed up the day before we left Sonora, and my grandmother said "Wouldn't it be nice if Rob and all them came too?" and then we showed up the next day on the doorstep! My grandparents were totally surprised! They loved it. They kept joking "Who else is coming?"
My cousin Jen had baby Raegan nearly two years ago, and since they live in Alaska we'd never met the kiddo before. It was great to finally meet her and it was fun to be with her the rest of our trip.
Little Raegan:
Had a couple of Tinkerbelle tea parties, so cute!
The next week and a half was spent mostly with my Dad's side of the family at my aunt's house. Normally I spend more time with Mom's side when we are in SF. Both sides of the family only live about 20 minutes away. I even spent the night at my Chaney grandparents- for the first time. They usually don't have room.
We all (Chaney side) went to the zoo, which was a lot of fun. Haven't been to the SF zoo in forever. It was fun to show Raegan all the animals.
There was a little steam engine that went around in the zoo (it went fast!) and we all rode and Raegan loved it! There was a conductor that sat on it and ran it- I think that's what my dad needs to do when he retires!
I love the old carousel there- it has all kinds of interesting animals!
Carousels make me happy.
Uncle Gary is a diver and catches abalone- one Saturday he went diving and caught the limit- 3. He fixed them and we had seafood that my other aunt sent down from Alaska (they have a boat). Yum!
Pounding abalone to tenderize them:
The shells:
It's not often that we're all together, so I made sure we posed. I used my timer and tripod and took us some group shots! We've never done anything like this on this big a scale! It's always a challenge to organize people!
And we realized that all the grandaughters were together in one place for the first time ever!
I made sure to take a picture documenting the four generations:
I got to see my little cousins on the other side of the family- they are children of my Mom's cousin so that makes us second cousins.
They had fun running around everywhere and playing in the yard. It was so quiet when they left! They are fun to have around.
Just before we left, we went to visit my Great Uncle Lyman and his wife Jenny. I'd never met them before, they live near Sacramento. It was a real nice evening, they are very sweet and I got to see old photos that I'd never seen before!
I love this crazy walkway in the Detroit airport- it's so hippie with changing lights and sound!
The real downer of the trip was that my grandma (Mom's mom) spent our entire trip and then some in the hospital. She was very sick with an infection (which spread to her blood) on top of all her other health problems. They were also worried aobut her heart. At first she didn't want to eat or move and we were all very worried- was this the end? After she got a transfusion and a blessing then she improved a lot. It was really hard seeing her so frail as well as hearing her scream in pain when the nurses moved her. Mom stayed nearly three weeks in CA after we left to help out. I'm glad to report that Grandma is doing much better- been home for two weeks and is even going out to restaurants. Grandma felt bad that she was in the hospital for our stay, but I'm glad that if it had to happen that we were there and could help out as well as be of some comfort. It was really strange not having her in the house while we were there- I didn't like it.
Farewell, California. Hope to see you soon. ;)
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